diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 155749 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078-h/32078-h.htm | 1219 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 54602 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078-h/images/image_001.jpg | bin | 0 -> 63005 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078-h/images/image_f.jpg | bin | 0 -> 4666 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078-h/images/image_g.jpg | bin | 0 -> 4919 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078-h/images/image_h.jpg | bin | 0 -> 4716 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078-h/images/image_t.jpg | bin | 0 -> 4639 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078.txt | 1128 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32078.zip | bin | 0 -> 22083 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
13 files changed, 2363 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32078-h.zip b/32078-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa0bf4d --- /dev/null +++ b/32078-h.zip diff --git a/32078-h/32078-h.htm b/32078-h/32078-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff6e34a --- /dev/null +++ b/32078-h/32078-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1219 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Love Story, by Irving E. Cox, Jr. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; background-color: #FFFFFF; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-right: 0.25em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + + +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Love Story, by Irving E. Cox, Jr. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Love Story + +Author: Irving E. Cox, Jr. + +Illustrator: Paul Orban + +Release Date: April 21, 2010 [EBook #32078] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE STORY *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<p class="center">This etext was produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction April 1956. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.</p></div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" height="569" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="600" height="488" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<h1><i>love story</i></h1> +<p> </p> +<h2>BY IRVING E. COX, JR.</h2> +<p> </p> +<h3><i>Illustrated by Paul Orban</i></h3> +<p> </p> +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Everything was aimed at satisfying the whims of women. The +popular cliches, the pretty romances, the catchwords of +advertising became realities; and the compound kept the men +enslaved. George knew what he had to do....</i></p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="36" height="40" /></div> + +<p>he duty bell rang and obediently George clattered down the steps from his +confinement cubicle over the garage. His mother's chartreuse-colored +Cadillac convertible purred to a stop in the drive.</p> + +<p>"It's so sweet of you to come, Georgie," his mother said when George +opened the door for her.</p> + +<p>"Whenever you need me, Mummy." It was no effort at all to keep the +sneer out of his voice. Deception had become a part of his character.</p> + +<p>His mother squeezed his arm. "I can always count on my little boy to +do the right thing."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mummy." They were mouthing a formula of words. They were both +very much aware that if George hadn't snapped to attention as soon as +the duty bell rang, he risked being sentenced, at least temporarily, +to the national hero's corps.</p> + +<p>Still in the customary, martyr's whisper, George's mother said, "This +has been such a tiring day. A man can never understand what a woman +has to endure, Georgie; my life is such an ordeal." Her tone turned at +once coldly practical. "I've two packages in the trunk; carry them to +the house for me."</p> + +<p>George picked up the cardboard boxes and followed her along the brick +walk in the direction of the white, Colonial mansion where his mother +and her two daughters and her current husband lived. George, being a +boy, was allowed in the house only when his mother invited him, or +when he was being shown off to a prospective bride. George was +nineteen, the most acceptable marriage age; because he had a +magnificent build and the reputation for being a good boy, his mother +was rumored to be asking twenty thousand shares for him.</p> + +<p>As they passed the rose arbor, his mother dropped on the wooden seat +and drew George down beside her. "I've a surprise for you, George—a +new bidder. Mrs. Harper is thinking about you for her daughter."</p> + +<p>"Jenny Harper?" Suddenly his throat was dust dry with excitement.</p> + +<p>"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Georgie?"</p> + +<p>"Whatever arrangement you make, Mummy." Jenny Harper was one of the +few outsiders George had occasionally seen as he grew up. She was +approximately his age, a stunning, dark-eyed brunette.</p> + +<p>"Jenny and her mother are coming to dinner to talk over a marriage +settlement." Speculatively she ran her hand over the tanned, +muscle-hard curve of his upper arm. "You're anxious to have your own +woman, aren't you, George?"</p> + +<p>"So I can begin to work for her, Mummy." That, at least, was the +correct answer, if not an honest one.</p> + +<p>"And begin taking the compound every day." His mother smiled. "Oh, I +know you wicked boys! Put on your dress trunks tonight. We want Jenny +to see you at your best."</p> + +<p>She got up and strode toward the house again. George followed +respectfully two paces behind her. As they passed beyond the garden +hedge, she saw the old business coupe parked in the delivery court. +Her body stiffened in anger. "Why is your father home so early, may I +ask?" It was an accusation, rather than a question.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Mother. I heard my sisters talking in the yard; I think +he was taken sick at work."</p> + +<p>"Sick! Some men never stop pampering themselves."</p> + +<p>"They said it was a heart attack or—"</p> + +<p>"Ridiculous; he isn't dead, is he? Georgie, this is the last straw. I +intend to trade your father in today on a younger man." She snatched +the two packages from him and stormed into the house.</p> + +<p>Since his mother hadn't asked him in, George returned to his +confinement cubicle in the garage. He felt sorry, in an impersonal +way, for the husband his mother was about to dispose of, but otherwise +the fate of the old man was quite normal. He had outlived his economic +usefulness; George had seen it happen before. His real father had died +a natural death—from strain and overwork—when George was four. His +mother had since then bought four other husbands; but, because boys +were brought up in rigid isolation, George had known none of them +well. For the same reason, he had no personal friends.</p> + +<p>He climbed the narrow stairway to his cubicle. It was already late +afternoon, almost time for dinner. He showered and oiled his body +carefully, before he put on his dress trunks, briefs made of black +silk studded with seed pearls and small diamonds. He was permitted to +wear the jewels because his mother's stockholdings were large enough +to make her an Associate Director. His family status gave George a +high marriage value and his Adonis physique kicked the asking price +still higher. At nineteen he stood more than six feet tall, even +without his formal, high-heeled boots. He weighed one hundred and +eighty-five, not an ounce of it superfluous fat. His skin was deeply +bronzed by the sunlamps in the gym; his eyes were sapphire blue; his +crewcut was a platinum blond—thanks to the peroxide wash his mother +made him use.</p> + +<p>Observing himself critically in the full-length mirror, George knew +his mother was justified in asking twenty thousand shares for him. +Marriage was an essential part of his own plans; without it revenge +was out of his reach. He desperately hoped the deal would be made with +Jenny Harper. A young woman would be far less difficult for him to +handle.</p> + +<p>When the oil on his skin was dry, he lay down on his bunk to catch up +on his required viewing until the duty bell called him to the house. +The automatic circuit snapped on the television screen above his bunk; +wearily George fixed his eyes on the unreeling love story.</p> + +<p>For as long as he could remember, television had been a fundamental +part of his education. A federal law required every male to watch the +TV romances three hours a day. Failure to do so—and that was +determined by monthly form tests mailed out by the Directorate—meant +a three month sentence to the national hero's corps. If the statistics +periodically published by the Directorate were true, George was a +relatively rare case, having survived adolescence without serving a +single tour of duty as a national hero. For that he indirectly thanked +his immunity to the compound. Fear and guilt kept him so much on his +toes, he grew up an amazingly well-disciplined child.</p> + +<p>George was aware that the television romances were designed to shape +his attitudes and his emotional reactions. The stories endlessly +repeated his mother's philosophy. All men were pictured as beasts +crudely dominated by lust. Women, on the other hand, were always +sensitive, delicate, modest, and intelligent; their martyrdom to the +men in their lives was called love. To pay for their animal lusts, men +were expected to slave away their lives earning things—kitchen +gadgets, household appliances, fancy cars, luxuries and +stockholdings—for their patient, long-suffering wives.</p> + +<p><i>And it's all a fake!</i> George thought. He had seen his Mother drive +two men to their graves and trade off two others because they hadn't +produced luxuries as fast as she demanded. His mother and his +pinch-faced sisters were pampered, selfish, rock-hard Amazons; by no +conceivable twist of imagination could they be called martyrs to +anything.</p> + +<p>That seemed self-evident, but George had no way of knowing if any +other man had ever reasoned out the same conclusion. Maybe he was +unique because of his immunity to the compound. He was sure that very +few men—possibly none—had reached marriage age with their immunity +still undiscovered.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_g.jpg" alt="G" width="33" height="40" /></div> +<p>eorge was lucky, in a way: he knew the truth about himself when he +was seven, and he had time to adjust to it—to plan the role he had +been acting for the past twelve years. His early childhood had been a +livid nightmare, primarily because of the precocious cruelty of his +two sisters. Shortly before his seventh birthday they forced him to +take part in a game they called cocktail party. The game involved only +one activity: the two little girls filled a glass with an unidentified +liquid, and ordered George to drink. Afterward, dancing up and down in +girlish glee, they said they had given him the compound.</p> + +<p>George had seen the love stories on television; he knew how he was +expected to act. He gave a good performance—better than his sisters +realized, for inside his mind George was in turmoil. They had given +him the compound (true, years before he should have taken it), and +nothing had happened. He had felt absolutely nothing; he was immune! +If anyone had ever found out, George would have been given a life +sentence to the national hero's corps; or, more probably, the Morals +Squad would have disposed of him altogether.</p> + +<p>From that day on, George lived with guilt and fear. As the years +passed, he several times stole capsules of the compound from his +mother's love-cabinet and gulped them down. Sometimes he felt a little +giddy, and once he was sick. But he experienced no reaction which +could possibly be defined as love. Not that he had any idea what that +reaction should have been, but he knew he was supposed to feel very +wicked and he never did.</p> + +<p>Each failure increased the agony of guilt; George drove himself to be +far better behaved than he was required to be. He dreaded making one +mistake. If his mother or a Director examined it too closely, they +might find out his real secret.</p> + +<p>George's basic education began when he was assigned to his confinement +room above the garage after his tenth birthday. Thereafter his time +was thoroughly regulated by law. Three hours a day he watched +television; three hours he spent in his gym, building a +magnificent—and salable—body; for four hours he listened to the +educational tapes. Arithmetic, economics, salesmanship, business +techniques, accounting, mechanics, practical science: the things he +had to know in order to earn a satisfactory living for the woman who +bought him in marriage.</p> + +<p>He learned nothing else and as he grew older he became very conscious +of the gaps in his education. For instance, what of the past? Had the +world always been this sham he lived in? That question he had the good +sense not to ask.</p> + +<p>But George had learned enough from his lessons in practical science to +guess what the compound really was, what it had to be: a mixture of +aphrodisiacs and a habit-forming drug. The compound was calculated to +stir up a man's desire to the point where he would give up anything in +order to satisfy it. Boys were given increased doses during their +adolescence; by the time they married, they were addicts, unable to +leave the compound alone.</p> + +<p>George couldn't prove his conclusion. He had no idea how many other +men had followed the same line of reasoning and come up with the same +answer. But why was George immune? There was only one way he could +figure it: it must have happened because his sisters gave him the +first draft when he was seven. But logically that didn't make much +sense.</p> + +<p>Bachelors were another sort of enemy: men who shirked their duty and +deserted their wives. It seemed unreasonable to believe a man could +desert his wife, when first he had to break himself of addiction to +the compound. George had always supposed that bachelor was a boogy +word contrived to frighten growing children.</p> + +<p>As a consequence, he was very surprised when the house next door was +raided. Through the window of his confinement cubicle, he actually saw +the five gray-haired men who were rounded up by the Morals Squad. The +Squad—heavily armed, six-foot Amazons—tried to question their +captives. They used injections of a truth serum. Two of the old men +died at once. The others went berserk, frothing at the mouth and +screaming animal profanity until the Squad captain ordered them shot.</p> + +<p>George overheard one of the women say, "It's always like this. They +take something so our serum can't be effective."</p> + +<p>Later that afternoon George found a scrap of paper in his mother's +garden. It had blown out of the bonfire which the Morals Squad made of +the papers they took out of the house next door. The burned page had +apparently been part of an informational bulletin, compiled by the +bachelors for distribution among themselves.</p> + +<p>"... data compiled from old publications," the fragment began, "and +interpreted by our most reliable authorities." At that point a part of +the page was burned away. "... and perhaps less than ninety years ago +men and women lived in equality. The evidence on that point is +entirely conclusive. The present matriarchy evolved by accident, not +design. Ninety years ago entertainment and advertising were +exclusively directed at satisfying a woman's whim. No product was sold +without some sort of tie-in with women. Fiction, drama, television, +motion pictures—all glorified a romantic thing called love. In that +same period business was in the process of taking over government from +statesmen and politicians. Women, of course, were the stockholders who +owned big business, although the directors and managers at that time +were still men—operating under the illusion that they were the +executives who represented ownership. In effect, however, women owned +the country and women governed it; suddenly the matriarchy existed. +There is no evidence that it was imposed; there is no suggestion of +civil strife or...." More words burned away. "However, the women were +not unwilling to consolidate their gains. Consequently the popular +cliches, the pretty romances, and the catchwords of advertising became +a substitute for reality. As for the compound...."</p> + +<p>There the fragment ended. Much of it George did not understand. But it +gave him a great deal of courage simply to know the bachelors actually +existed. He began to plan his own escape to a bachelor hideout. He +would have no opportunity, no freedom of any sort, until he married. +Every boy was rigidly isolated in his confinement cubicle, under the +watchful eye of his mother's spy-cameras, until he was bought in his +first marriage.</p> + +<p>Then, as he thought more about it, George realized there was a better +way for him to use his immunity. He couldn't be sure of finding a +bachelor hideout before the Morals Squad tracked him down. But George +could force his bride to tell him where the compound was made, since +he was not an addict and she could not use the compound to enslave +him. Once he knew the location of the factory, he would destroy it. +How, he wasn't sure; he didn't plan that far ahead. If the supply of +the drug could be interrupted, many hundreds of men might be goaded +into making a break for the hills.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="36" height="40" /></div> + +<p>he duty bell rang. George snapped to attention on the edge of his +bunk. He saw his mother waving from the back door of her house.</p> + +<p>"I'll be down right away, Mummy."</p> + +<p>His mother was waiting for him in the pantry. Under the glaring +overhead light he stopped for her last minute inspection. She used a +pocket-stick to touch up a spot on his chest where the oil gleam had +faded a little. And she gave him a glass of the compound to drink.</p> + +<p>"Jenny really wants to marry you, George," she confided. "I know the +symptoms; half our battle's won for us. And my former husband won't be +around to worry us with his aches and pains. I made the trade this +afternoon."</p> + +<p>He followed her into the dining room where the cocktails were being +served. Aside from the Harpers, George's mother had rented two +handsome, muscular escorts for his sisters. In the confusion, George +saw Jenny Harper's mother stealthily lace his water glass with a dose +of the compound. He suppressed a grin. Apparently she was anxious to +complete the deal, too.</p> + +<p>George found it almost impossible to hold back hilarious laughter when +Jenny herself shyly pressed a capsule of the compound into his hand +and asked him to use it. Three full-size slugs of the drug! George +wondered what would have happened if he hadn't been immune. +Fortunately, he knew how to act the lusty, eager, drooling male which +each of the women expected.</p> + +<p>The negotiations moved along without a hitch. George's mother held out +for twenty-eight thousand shares, and got it. The only problem left +was the date for the wedding, and Jenny settled that very quickly. "I +want my man, Mom," she said, "and I want him now."</p> + +<p>Jenny always got what she wanted.</p> + +<p>When she and her mother left that evening, she held George's hand in +hers and whispered earnestly, "So they were married and lived happily +ever after. That's the way it's going to be with us, isn't it, +George?"</p> + +<p>"It's up to you, Jenny; for as long as you want me."</p> + +<p>That was the conventional answer which he was expected to make, but he +saw unmasked disappointment in her face. She wanted something more +genuine, with more of himself in it. He felt suddenly sorry for her, +for the way he was going to use her. She was a pretty girl, even sweet +and innocent—if those words still had any real meaning left after +what his mother's world had done to them. Under other circumstances, +George would have looked forward with keen pleasure to marrying Jenny. +As it was, Jenny Harper was first a symbol of the fakery he intended +to destroy, and after that a woman.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="33" height="40" /></div> +<p>ive days later they were married. In spite of the short engagement, +Mrs. Harper and George's mother managed to put on a splendid show in +the church. George received a business sedan from his mother, the +traditional gift given every bridegroom; and from Mrs. Harper he +received a good job in a company where she was the majority +stockholder. And so, in the customary pageantry and ceremony, George +became Mr. Harper.</p> + +<p>"Think of it—Mr. Harper," Jenny sighed, clinging to his arm. "Now +you're really mine, George."</p> + +<p>On the church steps the newlyweds posed for photographs—George in the +plain, white trunks which symbolized a first marriage; Jenny in a +dazzling cloud of fluff, suggestively nearly transparent. Then Mrs. +Harper drew Jenny aside and whispered in her daughter's ear: the +traditional telling of the secret. Now Jenny knew where the compound +was manufactured; and for George revenge was within his grasp.</p> + +<p>George's mother had arranged for their honeymoon at Memory Lodge, a +resort not far from the Directorate capital in Hollywood. It was the +national capital as well, though everyone conscientiously maintained +the pretense that Washington, with an all-male Congress, still +governed the country. George considered himself lucky that his mother +had chosen Memory Lodge. He had already planned to desert Jenny in the +mountains.</p> + +<p>George knew how to drive; his mother had wanted him to do a great deal +of chauffeuring for her. But he had never driven beyond town, and he +had never driven anywhere alone. His mother gave him a map on which +his route to the lodge was indicated in bright red. In the foothills +George left the marked highway on a paved side road.</p> + +<p>He gambled that Jenny wouldn't immediately realize what he had done, +and the gamble paid off. Still wearing her nearly transparent wedding +gown, she pressed close to him and ran her hands constantly over his +naked chest, thoroughly satisfied with the man she had bought. In the +church George had been given a tall glass of the compound; he acted +the part Jenny expected.</p> + +<p>But it was far less a role he played than George wanted to admit. His +body sang with excitement. He found it very difficult to hold the +excitement in check. If he had been addicted to the compound, it would +have been out of the question. More than ever before he sympathized +with the men who were enslaved by love. In spite of his own immunity, +he nearly yielded to the sensuous appeal of her caress. He held the +wheel so hard his knuckles went white; he clenched his teeth until his +jaw ached.</p> + +<p>All afternoon George drove aimless mountain roads, moving deeper into +the uninhabited canyons. Carefully judging his distances with an eye +on the map, he saw to it that he remained relatively close to the +city; after he forced Jenny to give him the information he wanted, he +wanted to be able to get out fast.</p> + +<p>By dusk the roads he drove were no longer paved. Ruts carved deep by +spring rains suggested long disuse. The swaying of the car and the +constant grinding of gears eventually jolted Jenny out of her romantic +dreams. She moved away from George and sat looking at the pines which +met above the road.</p> + +<p>"We're lost, aren't we?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" he shouted to be heard above the roar of the motor.</p> + +<p>"Lost!"</p> + +<p>For a minute or two longer he continued to drive until he saw an open +space under the trees. He pulled the car into the clearing and snapped +off the ignition. Then he looked Jenny full in the face and answered +her. "No, Jenny, we aren't lost; I know exactly what I'm doing."</p> + +<p>"Oh." He was sure she had understood him, but she said, "We can spend +the night here and find the lodge in the morning. It's a pity we +didn't bring something to eat." She smiled ingenuously. "But I brought +the compound; and we have each other."</p> + +<p>They got out of the car. Jenny looked up at the sunset, dull red above +the trees, and shivered; she asked George to build a fire. He tucked +the ignition key into the band of his white trunks and began to gather +dry boughs and pine needles from the floor of the forest. He found +several large branches and carried them back to the clearing. There +was enough wood to last until morning—whether he stayed that long or +not. Jenny had lugged the seats and a blanket out of the car and +improvised a lean-to close to the fire.</p> + +<p>He piled on two of the larger branches and the bright glow of flame +lit their faces. She beckoned to him and gave him a bottle of the +compound, watching bright-eyed as he emptied it.</p> + +<p>With her lips parted, she waited. He did nothing. Slowly the light +died in her eyes. Like a savage she flung herself into his arms. He +steeled himself to show absolutely no reaction and finally she drew +away. Trembling and with tears in her eyes, she whispered, "The +compound doesn't—" The look of pain in her eyes turned to terror. +"You're immune!"</p> + +<p>"Now you know."</p> + +<p>"But who told you—" She searched his face, shaking her head. "You +don't know, do you—not really?"</p> + +<p>"Know what?"</p> + +<p>Instead of replying, she asked, "You brought me here deliberately, +didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"So we wouldn't be interrupted. You see, Jenny, you're going to tell +me where the compound's made."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't do you any good. Don't you see—" He closed his hands on +her wrists and jerked her rudely to her feet. He saw her face go +white. And no wonder: that magnificent, granite hard body, which she +had bought in good faith for her own pleasure, was suddenly out of her +control. He grinned. He crushed her mouth against his and kissed her. +Limp in his arms, she clung to him and said in a choked, husky +whisper, "I love you, George."</p> + +<p>"And you'll make any sacrifice for love," he replied, mocking the +dialogue of the television love stories.</p> + +<p>"Yes, anything!"</p> + +<p>"Then tell me where the compound's manufactured."</p> + +<p>"Hold me close, George; never let me go."</p> + +<p>How many times had he heard that particular line! It sickened him, +hearing it now from Jenny; he had expected something better of her. He +pushed her from him. By accident his fist raked her face. She fell +back blood trickling from her mouth. In her eyes he saw shock and a +vague sense of pain; but both were overridden by adoration. She was +like a whipped puppy, ready to lick his hand.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you, George," she whispered. "But don't leave me." She +pulled herself to her feet and stood beside him, reaching for his +hand. "We make it in Hollywood, in the Directorate Building, the part +that used to be a sound stage."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Jenny." He picked up one of the car seats and walked back to +the sedan. She stood motionless watching him. He fitted the seat in +place and put the key in the lock. The starter ground away, but the +motor did not turn over.</p> + +<p>He glanced back at Jenny. She was smiling inscrutably, "You see, +George, you have to stay with me."</p> + +<p>He got out of the car and moved toward her.</p> + +<p>"I was afraid you were planning to desert me," she went on, "so I took +out the distributor cap while you were getting the firewood."</p> + +<p>He stood in front of her. Coldly he demanded, "Where did you put it, +Jenny?"</p> + +<p>She tilted her lips toward his. "Kiss and tell—maybe."</p> + +<p>"I haven't time for games. Where is it?"</p> + +<p>His fist shot out. Jenny sprawled on the ground at his feet. Again he +saw the pain and the adoration in her face. But that couldn't be +right. She would hate him by this time.</p> + +<p>He yanked her to her feet. Her lips were still bleeding and blood came +now from a wound in her cheek. Yet she managed to smile again.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to hurt you, Jenny," he told her. "But I have to have—"</p> + +<p>"I love you, George. I never thought I'd want to give myself to a man. +All the buying doesn't make any difference, does it? Not really. And I +never knew that before!"</p> + +<p>With an unconscious movement, she kicked her train aside and he saw +the distributor cap lying beneath it. He picked it up. She flung +herself at him screaming. He felt the hammer beat of her heart; her +fingers dug into his back like cat claws. Now it didn't matter. He had +the secret; he could go whenever he wanted to. Nonetheless he pushed +her away—tenderly, and with regret. To surrender like this was no +better than a capitulation to the compound. It was instinctively +important to make her understand that. He knew that much, but his +emotions were churned too close to fever pitch for him to reason out +what else that implied.</p> + +<p>He clipped her neatly on the jaw and put her unconscious body on the +ground by the fire. He left the map with her so she could find her way +out in the morning; he knew it was really a very short hike to a +highway, where she would be picked up by a passing car or truck.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="34" height="40" /></div> +<p>e drove out the way he had come in—at least he tried to remember. +Four times he took a wrong turn and had to backtrack. It was, +therefore, dawn before he reached the outskirts of Hollywood. In any +other city he would not have been conspicuous—simply a man on his way +to work; only women slept late. However, Hollywood was off-limits to +every male. The city was not only the seat of the Directorate, but the +manufacturing center for the cosmetics industry. And since that gave +women her charm, it was a business no man worked at.</p> + +<p>George had to have a disguise. He stopped on a residential street, +where the people were still likely to be in their beds. He read names +on mail boxes until he found a house where an unmarried woman lived. +He had no way of knowing if she had a husband on approval with her, +but the box was marked "Miss." With any luck he might have got what he +wanted without disturbing her, but the woman was a light sleeper and +she caught him as he was putting on the dress. He was sorry he had to +slug her, but she gave him no resistance. A spark of hope, a spark of +long-forgotten youth glowed in her eyes; before she slid into +unconsciousness.</p> + +<p>Wearing the stolen dress, which fit him like a tent, and an enormous +hat to hide his face, George parked his sedan near the Directorate +and entered the building when it opened at eight. In room after room +automatons demonstrated how to dress correctly; robot faces displayed +the uses of cosmetics. There were displays of kitchen gadgets, +appliances, and other heavy machinery for the home; recorded lectures +on stock management and market control. Here women came from every +part of the country for advice, help and guidance. Here the Top +Directors met to plan business policy, to govern the nation, and to +supervise the production of the compound. For only the Top +Directors—less than a dozen women—actually knew the formula. Like +their stockholdings, the secret was hereditary, passed from mother to +daughter.</p> + +<p>George searched every floor of the building, but found nothing except +exhibit rooms. Time passed, and still he did not find what he had come +for. More and more women crowded in to see the exhibits. Several times +he found new-comers examining him oddly; he found he had to avoid the +crowds.</p> + +<p>Eventually he went down steps into the basement, though a door marked +"Keep Out." The door was neither locked nor guarded, but there was a +remote chance it might lead to the production center for the compound. +In the basement George found a mechanical operation underway; at first +he took it for another cosmetic exhibit. Conveyor belts delivered +barrels of flavoring syrup, alcohol and a widely advertised liquid +vitamin compound. Machines sliced open the containers, dumping the +contents into huge vats, from which pipes emptied the mixture into +passing rows of bottles.</p> + +<p>The bottles: suddenly George recognized them and the truth dawned on +him, sickeningly. Here was the manufacturing center for the +compound—but it might just as well have been a barn in Connecticut or +a store window in Manhattan. No man was enslaved by the compound, for +the compound did not exist. He was imprisoned by his own sense of +guilt, his own fear of being different. George remembered his own fear +and guilt: he knew how much a man could be driven to make himself +conform to what he thought other men were like.</p> + +<p>His revenge was as foolish as the sham he wanted to destroy. He should +have reasoned that out long ago; he should have realized it was +impossible to have immunity to an addictive drug. But, no, George +believed what he saw on the television programs. He was victimized as +much as any man had ever been.</p> + +<p>He turned blindly toward the stairway, and from the shadows in the +hall the Morals Squad closed in around him. With a final gesture of +defiance, he ripped off the stolen dress and the absurd hat, and stood +waiting for the blast from their guns. An old woman, wearing the +shoulder insignia of a Top Director, pushed through the squad and +faced him, a revolver in her hand. She was neither angry nor +disturbed. Her voice, when she spoke, was filled with pity. Pity! That +was the final indignity.</p> + +<p>"Now you know the truth," she said. "A few men always have to try it; +and we usually let them see this room and find out for themselves +before—before we close the case."</p> + +<p>Tensely he demanded, "Just how much longer do you think—"</p> + +<p>"We can get away with this? As long as men are human beings. It's +easier to make yourself believe a lie if you think everyone else +believes it, than to believe a truth you've found out on your own. All +of us want more than anything else to be like other people. Women have +created a world for you with television programs; you grow up +observing nothing else; you make yourself fit into the pattern. Only a +few independent-minded characters have the courage to accept their own +immunity; most of them end up here, trying to do something noble for +the rest of mankind. But you have one satisfaction, for what it's +worth: you've been true to yourself."</p> + +<p><i>True to yourself.</i> George found a strange comfort in the words, and +his fear was gone. He squared his shoulders and faced the mouth of her +gun. <i>True to yourself</i>: that was something worth dying for.</p> + +<p>He saw a flicker of emotion in the old woman's eyes. Admiration? He +couldn't be sure. For at the moment a shot rang out from the end of +the corridor; and the Top Director fell back, nursing a hand suddenly +bright with blood.</p> + +<p>"Let him go." It was Jenny's voice. She was sheltered by a partly open +door at the foot of the stairway.</p> + +<p>"Don't be a fool," the old woman replied. "He's seen too much."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter. Who would believe him?"</p> + +<p>"You're upset. You don't realize—"</p> + +<p>"He's mine and I want him."</p> + +<p>"The Directorate will give you a refund of the purchase price."</p> + +<p>"You didn't understand me. I don't want one of your pretty automatons; +anybody can buy them for a few shares of stock. I want a man—a real +man; I want to belong to him."</p> + +<p>"He belongs to you; you bought him."</p> + +<p>"And that's what's wrong. We really belong to each other."</p> + +<p>The old woman glanced at George and he saw the same flicker of feeling +in her eyes. And tears, tears of regret. Why? "We have you +outnumbered," the old woman said quietly to Jenny.</p> + +<p>"I don't care. I have a gun; I'll use it as long as I'm able."</p> + +<p>The Morals Squad raised their weapons. The Director shook her head +imperiously and they snapped to attention again. "If you take him from +us," she called out to Jenny, "you'll be outlawed. We'll hunt you +down, if we can."</p> + +<p>"I want him," Jenny persisted. "I don't care about the rest of it."</p> + +<p>The old woman nodded to George. He couldn't believe that she meant it. +The Director was on her home ground, in her headquarters building, +backed by an armed squad of stone-faced Amazons. She had no reason to +let him go.</p> + +<p>She walked beside him as he moved down the hall. When they were +twenty feet from the guard, she closed her thin hand on his arm; her +eyes swam with tears and she whispered, "There truly is a love potion. +Not this nonsense we bottle here, but something real and very +worthwhile. You and this girl have found it. I know that, from the way +she talks. She doesn't say anything about ownership, and that's as it +should be. As it has to be, for any of us to be happy. Hold tight to +that all the rest of your life. Don't ever believe in words; don't +fall for any more love stories; believe what you feel deep +inside—what you know yourself to be true.</p> + +<p>"You men who learn how to break away are our only hope, too. Most of +us don't see that yet. I do; I know what it used to be like. Someday +there may be enough men with the stamina to take back the place of +dominance that we stole from them. We thought we wanted it; for +decades before we had been screaming about women's rights." Her thin +lips twisted in a sneer and she spat her disgust. "Finally we took +what we wanted, and it turned to ashes in our hands. We made our men +playthings; we made them slaves. And after that they weren't men any +more. But what we stole isn't the sort of thing you can hand back on a +silver platter; you men have to get enough courage to take it away +from us."</p> + +<p>Her grip tightened on his arm. "There's a fire door at the end of the +hall; if you push the emergency button, you'll close it. That will +give you a five or ten minute start. I can't help you any more...."</p> + +<p>They were abreast of Jenny. She seized Jenny's hand and thrust it into +his. "Beat it, kids; there's a bachelor camp on the north ridge. You +can make it.</p> + +<p>"And from here on in, what he says goes," the old woman added. "Don't +forget that."</p> + +<p>"She won't," George answered, supremely self-assured.</p> + +<p>He took Jenny's arm and, turning abruptly, they made their break for +freedom. The Director managed to remain standing in the middle of the +corridor, making a dangerous target of herself so that none of the +Morals Squad could risk a shot at the fugitives. As the fire door +clanged shut George looked back. He saw the old woman's lips moving in +silent prayer.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Love Story, by Irving E. Cox, Jr. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE STORY *** + +***** This file should be named 32078-h.htm or 32078-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/7/32078/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/32078-h/images/cover.jpg b/32078-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d1ec75 --- /dev/null +++ b/32078-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/32078-h/images/image_001.jpg b/32078-h/images/image_001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad59302 --- /dev/null +++ b/32078-h/images/image_001.jpg diff --git a/32078-h/images/image_f.jpg b/32078-h/images/image_f.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..afcb2fc --- /dev/null +++ b/32078-h/images/image_f.jpg diff --git a/32078-h/images/image_g.jpg b/32078-h/images/image_g.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5c33e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/32078-h/images/image_g.jpg diff --git a/32078-h/images/image_h.jpg b/32078-h/images/image_h.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..87bb078 --- /dev/null +++ b/32078-h/images/image_h.jpg diff --git a/32078-h/images/image_t.jpg b/32078-h/images/image_t.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f842a67 --- /dev/null +++ b/32078-h/images/image_t.jpg diff --git a/32078.txt b/32078.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3b274f --- /dev/null +++ b/32078.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1128 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Love Story, by Irving E. Cox, Jr. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Love Story + +Author: Irving E. Cox, Jr. + +Illustrator: Paul Orban + +Release Date: April 21, 2010 [EBook #32078] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE STORY *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction April 1956. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + _love story_ + + + BY IRVING E. COX, JR. + + + _Illustrated by Paul Orban_ + + + _Everything was aimed at satisfying the whims of women. The + popular cliches, the pretty romances, the catchwords of + advertising became realities; and the compound kept the men + enslaved. George knew what he had to do...._ + + * * * * * + + + + +The duty bell rang and obediently George clattered down the steps from his +confinement cubicle over the garage. His mother's chartreuse-colored +Cadillac convertible purred to a stop in the drive. + +"It's so sweet of you to come, Georgie," his mother said when George +opened the door for her. + +"Whenever you need me, Mummy." It was no effort at all to keep the +sneer out of his voice. Deception had become a part of his character. + +His mother squeezed his arm. "I can always count on my little boy to +do the right thing." + +"Yes, Mummy." They were mouthing a formula of words. They were both +very much aware that if George hadn't snapped to attention as soon as +the duty bell rang, he risked being sentenced, at least temporarily, +to the national hero's corps. + +Still in the customary, martyr's whisper, George's mother said, "This +has been such a tiring day. A man can never understand what a woman +has to endure, Georgie; my life is such an ordeal." Her tone turned at +once coldly practical. "I've two packages in the trunk; carry them to +the house for me." + +George picked up the cardboard boxes and followed her along the brick +walk in the direction of the white, Colonial mansion where his mother +and her two daughters and her current husband lived. George, being a +boy, was allowed in the house only when his mother invited him, or +when he was being shown off to a prospective bride. George was +nineteen, the most acceptable marriage age; because he had a +magnificent build and the reputation for being a good boy, his mother +was rumored to be asking twenty thousand shares for him. + +As they passed the rose arbor, his mother dropped on the wooden seat +and drew George down beside her. "I've a surprise for you, George--a +new bidder. Mrs. Harper is thinking about you for her daughter." + +"Jenny Harper?" Suddenly his throat was dust dry with excitement. + +"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Georgie?" + +"Whatever arrangement you make, Mummy." Jenny Harper was one of the +few outsiders George had occasionally seen as he grew up. She was +approximately his age, a stunning, dark-eyed brunette. + +"Jenny and her mother are coming to dinner to talk over a marriage +settlement." Speculatively she ran her hand over the tanned, +muscle-hard curve of his upper arm. "You're anxious to have your own +woman, aren't you, George?" + +"So I can begin to work for her, Mummy." That, at least, was the +correct answer, if not an honest one. + +"And begin taking the compound every day." His mother smiled. "Oh, I +know you wicked boys! Put on your dress trunks tonight. We want Jenny +to see you at your best." + +She got up and strode toward the house again. George followed +respectfully two paces behind her. As they passed beyond the garden +hedge, she saw the old business coupe parked in the delivery court. +Her body stiffened in anger. "Why is your father home so early, may I +ask?" It was an accusation, rather than a question. + +"I don't know, Mother. I heard my sisters talking in the yard; I think +he was taken sick at work." + +"Sick! Some men never stop pampering themselves." + +"They said it was a heart attack or--" + +"Ridiculous; he isn't dead, is he? Georgie, this is the last straw. I +intend to trade your father in today on a younger man." She snatched +the two packages from him and stormed into the house. + +Since his mother hadn't asked him in, George returned to his +confinement cubicle in the garage. He felt sorry, in an impersonal +way, for the husband his mother was about to dispose of, but otherwise +the fate of the old man was quite normal. He had outlived his economic +usefulness; George had seen it happen before. His real father had died +a natural death--from strain and overwork--when George was four. His +mother had since then bought four other husbands; but, because boys +were brought up in rigid isolation, George had known none of them +well. For the same reason, he had no personal friends. + +He climbed the narrow stairway to his cubicle. It was already late +afternoon, almost time for dinner. He showered and oiled his body +carefully, before he put on his dress trunks, briefs made of black +silk studded with seed pearls and small diamonds. He was permitted to +wear the jewels because his mother's stockholdings were large enough +to make her an Associate Director. His family status gave George a +high marriage value and his Adonis physique kicked the asking price +still higher. At nineteen he stood more than six feet tall, even +without his formal, high-heeled boots. He weighed one hundred and +eighty-five, not an ounce of it superfluous fat. His skin was deeply +bronzed by the sunlamps in the gym; his eyes were sapphire blue; his +crewcut was a platinum blond--thanks to the peroxide wash his mother +made him use. + +Observing himself critically in the full-length mirror, George knew +his mother was justified in asking twenty thousand shares for him. +Marriage was an essential part of his own plans; without it revenge +was out of his reach. He desperately hoped the deal would be made with +Jenny Harper. A young woman would be far less difficult for him to +handle. + +When the oil on his skin was dry, he lay down on his bunk to catch up +on his required viewing until the duty bell called him to the house. +The automatic circuit snapped on the television screen above his bunk; +wearily George fixed his eyes on the unreeling love story. + +For as long as he could remember, television had been a fundamental +part of his education. A federal law required every male to watch the +TV romances three hours a day. Failure to do so--and that was +determined by monthly form tests mailed out by the Directorate--meant +a three month sentence to the national hero's corps. If the statistics +periodically published by the Directorate were true, George was a +relatively rare case, having survived adolescence without serving a +single tour of duty as a national hero. For that he indirectly thanked +his immunity to the compound. Fear and guilt kept him so much on his +toes, he grew up an amazingly well-disciplined child. + +George was aware that the television romances were designed to shape +his attitudes and his emotional reactions. The stories endlessly +repeated his mother's philosophy. All men were pictured as beasts +crudely dominated by lust. Women, on the other hand, were always +sensitive, delicate, modest, and intelligent; their martyrdom to the +men in their lives was called love. To pay for their animal lusts, men +were expected to slave away their lives earning things--kitchen +gadgets, household appliances, fancy cars, luxuries and +stockholdings--for their patient, long-suffering wives. + +_And it's all a fake!_ George thought. He had seen his Mother drive +two men to their graves and trade off two others because they hadn't +produced luxuries as fast as she demanded. His mother and his +pinch-faced sisters were pampered, selfish, rock-hard Amazons; by no +conceivable twist of imagination could they be called martyrs to +anything. + +That seemed self-evident, but George had no way of knowing if any +other man had ever reasoned out the same conclusion. Maybe he was +unique because of his immunity to the compound. He was sure that very +few men--possibly none--had reached marriage age with their immunity +still undiscovered. + + * * * * * + +George was lucky, in a way: he knew the truth about himself when he +was seven, and he had time to adjust to it--to plan the role he had +been acting for the past twelve years. His early childhood had been a +livid nightmare, primarily because of the precocious cruelty of his +two sisters. Shortly before his seventh birthday they forced him to +take part in a game they called cocktail party. The game involved only +one activity: the two little girls filled a glass with an unidentified +liquid, and ordered George to drink. Afterward, dancing up and down in +girlish glee, they said they had given him the compound. + +George had seen the love stories on television; he knew how he was +expected to act. He gave a good performance--better than his sisters +realized, for inside his mind George was in turmoil. They had given +him the compound (true, years before he should have taken it), and +nothing had happened. He had felt absolutely nothing; he was immune! +If anyone had ever found out, George would have been given a life +sentence to the national hero's corps; or, more probably, the Morals +Squad would have disposed of him altogether. + +From that day on, George lived with guilt and fear. As the years +passed, he several times stole capsules of the compound from his +mother's love-cabinet and gulped them down. Sometimes he felt a little +giddy, and once he was sick. But he experienced no reaction which +could possibly be defined as love. Not that he had any idea what that +reaction should have been, but he knew he was supposed to feel very +wicked and he never did. + +Each failure increased the agony of guilt; George drove himself to be +far better behaved than he was required to be. He dreaded making one +mistake. If his mother or a Director examined it too closely, they +might find out his real secret. + +George's basic education began when he was assigned to his confinement +room above the garage after his tenth birthday. Thereafter his time +was thoroughly regulated by law. Three hours a day he watched +television; three hours he spent in his gym, building a +magnificent--and salable--body; for four hours he listened to the +educational tapes. Arithmetic, economics, salesmanship, business +techniques, accounting, mechanics, practical science: the things he +had to know in order to earn a satisfactory living for the woman who +bought him in marriage. + +He learned nothing else and as he grew older he became very conscious +of the gaps in his education. For instance, what of the past? Had the +world always been this sham he lived in? That question he had the good +sense not to ask. + +But George had learned enough from his lessons in practical science to +guess what the compound really was, what it had to be: a mixture of +aphrodisiacs and a habit-forming drug. The compound was calculated to +stir up a man's desire to the point where he would give up anything in +order to satisfy it. Boys were given increased doses during their +adolescence; by the time they married, they were addicts, unable to +leave the compound alone. + +George couldn't prove his conclusion. He had no idea how many other +men had followed the same line of reasoning and come up with the same +answer. But why was George immune? There was only one way he could +figure it: it must have happened because his sisters gave him the +first draft when he was seven. But logically that didn't make much +sense. + +Bachelors were another sort of enemy: men who shirked their duty and +deserted their wives. It seemed unreasonable to believe a man could +desert his wife, when first he had to break himself of addiction to +the compound. George had always supposed that bachelor was a boogy +word contrived to frighten growing children. + +As a consequence, he was very surprised when the house next door was +raided. Through the window of his confinement cubicle, he actually saw +the five gray-haired men who were rounded up by the Morals Squad. The +Squad--heavily armed, six-foot Amazons--tried to question their +captives. They used injections of a truth serum. Two of the old men +died at once. The others went berserk, frothing at the mouth and +screaming animal profanity until the Squad captain ordered them shot. + +George overheard one of the women say, "It's always like this. They +take something so our serum can't be effective." + +Later that afternoon George found a scrap of paper in his mother's +garden. It had blown out of the bonfire which the Morals Squad made of +the papers they took out of the house next door. The burned page had +apparently been part of an informational bulletin, compiled by the +bachelors for distribution among themselves. + +"... data compiled from old publications," the fragment began, "and +interpreted by our most reliable authorities." At that point a part of +the page was burned away. "... and perhaps less than ninety years ago +men and women lived in equality. The evidence on that point is +entirely conclusive. The present matriarchy evolved by accident, not +design. Ninety years ago entertainment and advertising were +exclusively directed at satisfying a woman's whim. No product was sold +without some sort of tie-in with women. Fiction, drama, television, +motion pictures--all glorified a romantic thing called love. In that +same period business was in the process of taking over government from +statesmen and politicians. Women, of course, were the stockholders who +owned big business, although the directors and managers at that time +were still men--operating under the illusion that they were the +executives who represented ownership. In effect, however, women owned +the country and women governed it; suddenly the matriarchy existed. +There is no evidence that it was imposed; there is no suggestion of +civil strife or...." More words burned away. "However, the women were +not unwilling to consolidate their gains. Consequently the popular +cliches, the pretty romances, and the catchwords of advertising became +a substitute for reality. As for the compound...." + +There the fragment ended. Much of it George did not understand. But it +gave him a great deal of courage simply to know the bachelors actually +existed. He began to plan his own escape to a bachelor hideout. He +would have no opportunity, no freedom of any sort, until he married. +Every boy was rigidly isolated in his confinement cubicle, under the +watchful eye of his mother's spy-cameras, until he was bought in his +first marriage. + +Then, as he thought more about it, George realized there was a better +way for him to use his immunity. He couldn't be sure of finding a +bachelor hideout before the Morals Squad tracked him down. But George +could force his bride to tell him where the compound was made, since +he was not an addict and she could not use the compound to enslave +him. Once he knew the location of the factory, he would destroy it. +How, he wasn't sure; he didn't plan that far ahead. If the supply of +the drug could be interrupted, many hundreds of men might be goaded +into making a break for the hills. + + * * * * * + +The duty bell rang. George snapped to attention on the edge of his +bunk. He saw his mother waving from the back door of her house. + +"I'll be down right away, Mummy." + +His mother was waiting for him in the pantry. Under the glaring +overhead light he stopped for her last minute inspection. She used a +pocket-stick to touch up a spot on his chest where the oil gleam had +faded a little. And she gave him a glass of the compound to drink. + +"Jenny really wants to marry you, George," she confided. "I know the +symptoms; half our battle's won for us. And my former husband won't be +around to worry us with his aches and pains. I made the trade this +afternoon." + +He followed her into the dining room where the cocktails were being +served. Aside from the Harpers, George's mother had rented two +handsome, muscular escorts for his sisters. In the confusion, George +saw Jenny Harper's mother stealthily lace his water glass with a dose +of the compound. He suppressed a grin. Apparently she was anxious to +complete the deal, too. + +George found it almost impossible to hold back hilarious laughter when +Jenny herself shyly pressed a capsule of the compound into his hand +and asked him to use it. Three full-size slugs of the drug! George +wondered what would have happened if he hadn't been immune. +Fortunately, he knew how to act the lusty, eager, drooling male which +each of the women expected. + +The negotiations moved along without a hitch. George's mother held out +for twenty-eight thousand shares, and got it. The only problem left +was the date for the wedding, and Jenny settled that very quickly. "I +want my man, Mom," she said, "and I want him now." + +Jenny always got what she wanted. + +When she and her mother left that evening, she held George's hand in +hers and whispered earnestly, "So they were married and lived happily +ever after. That's the way it's going to be with us, isn't it, +George?" + +"It's up to you, Jenny; for as long as you want me." + +That was the conventional answer which he was expected to make, but he +saw unmasked disappointment in her face. She wanted something more +genuine, with more of himself in it. He felt suddenly sorry for her, +for the way he was going to use her. She was a pretty girl, even sweet +and innocent--if those words still had any real meaning left after +what his mother's world had done to them. Under other circumstances, +George would have looked forward with keen pleasure to marrying Jenny. +As it was, Jenny Harper was first a symbol of the fakery he intended +to destroy, and after that a woman. + + * * * * * + +Five days later they were married. In spite of the short engagement, +Mrs. Harper and George's mother managed to put on a splendid show in +the church. George received a business sedan from his mother, the +traditional gift given every bridegroom; and from Mrs. Harper he +received a good job in a company where she was the majority +stockholder. And so, in the customary pageantry and ceremony, George +became Mr. Harper. + +"Think of it--Mr. Harper," Jenny sighed, clinging to his arm. "Now +you're really mine, George." + +On the church steps the newlyweds posed for photographs--George in the +plain, white trunks which symbolized a first marriage; Jenny in a +dazzling cloud of fluff, suggestively nearly transparent. Then Mrs. +Harper drew Jenny aside and whispered in her daughter's ear: the +traditional telling of the secret. Now Jenny knew where the compound +was manufactured; and for George revenge was within his grasp. + +George's mother had arranged for their honeymoon at Memory Lodge, a +resort not far from the Directorate capital in Hollywood. It was the +national capital as well, though everyone conscientiously maintained +the pretense that Washington, with an all-male Congress, still +governed the country. George considered himself lucky that his mother +had chosen Memory Lodge. He had already planned to desert Jenny in the +mountains. + +George knew how to drive; his mother had wanted him to do a great deal +of chauffeuring for her. But he had never driven beyond town, and he +had never driven anywhere alone. His mother gave him a map on which +his route to the lodge was indicated in bright red. In the foothills +George left the marked highway on a paved side road. + +He gambled that Jenny wouldn't immediately realize what he had done, +and the gamble paid off. Still wearing her nearly transparent wedding +gown, she pressed close to him and ran her hands constantly over his +naked chest, thoroughly satisfied with the man she had bought. In the +church George had been given a tall glass of the compound; he acted +the part Jenny expected. + +But it was far less a role he played than George wanted to admit. His +body sang with excitement. He found it very difficult to hold the +excitement in check. If he had been addicted to the compound, it would +have been out of the question. More than ever before he sympathized +with the men who were enslaved by love. In spite of his own immunity, +he nearly yielded to the sensuous appeal of her caress. He held the +wheel so hard his knuckles went white; he clenched his teeth until his +jaw ached. + +All afternoon George drove aimless mountain roads, moving deeper into +the uninhabited canyons. Carefully judging his distances with an eye +on the map, he saw to it that he remained relatively close to the +city; after he forced Jenny to give him the information he wanted, he +wanted to be able to get out fast. + +By dusk the roads he drove were no longer paved. Ruts carved deep by +spring rains suggested long disuse. The swaying of the car and the +constant grinding of gears eventually jolted Jenny out of her romantic +dreams. She moved away from George and sat looking at the pines which +met above the road. + +"We're lost, aren't we?" she asked. + +"What's that?" he shouted to be heard above the roar of the motor. + +"Lost!" + +For a minute or two longer he continued to drive until he saw an open +space under the trees. He pulled the car into the clearing and snapped +off the ignition. Then he looked Jenny full in the face and answered +her. "No, Jenny, we aren't lost; I know exactly what I'm doing." + +"Oh." He was sure she had understood him, but she said, "We can spend +the night here and find the lodge in the morning. It's a pity we +didn't bring something to eat." She smiled ingenuously. "But I brought +the compound; and we have each other." + +They got out of the car. Jenny looked up at the sunset, dull red above +the trees, and shivered; she asked George to build a fire. He tucked +the ignition key into the band of his white trunks and began to gather +dry boughs and pine needles from the floor of the forest. He found +several large branches and carried them back to the clearing. There +was enough wood to last until morning--whether he stayed that long or +not. Jenny had lugged the seats and a blanket out of the car and +improvised a lean-to close to the fire. + +He piled on two of the larger branches and the bright glow of flame +lit their faces. She beckoned to him and gave him a bottle of the +compound, watching bright-eyed as he emptied it. + +With her lips parted, she waited. He did nothing. Slowly the light +died in her eyes. Like a savage she flung herself into his arms. He +steeled himself to show absolutely no reaction and finally she drew +away. Trembling and with tears in her eyes, she whispered, "The +compound doesn't--" The look of pain in her eyes turned to terror. +"You're immune!" + +"Now you know." + +"But who told you--" She searched his face, shaking her head. "You +don't know, do you--not really?" + +"Know what?" + +Instead of replying, she asked, "You brought me here deliberately, +didn't you?" + +"So we wouldn't be interrupted. You see, Jenny, you're going to tell +me where the compound's made." + +"It wouldn't do you any good. Don't you see--" He closed his hands on +her wrists and jerked her rudely to her feet. He saw her face go +white. And no wonder: that magnificent, granite hard body, which she +had bought in good faith for her own pleasure, was suddenly out of her +control. He grinned. He crushed her mouth against his and kissed her. +Limp in his arms, she clung to him and said in a choked, husky +whisper, "I love you, George." + +"And you'll make any sacrifice for love," he replied, mocking the +dialogue of the television love stories. + +"Yes, anything!" + +"Then tell me where the compound's manufactured." + +"Hold me close, George; never let me go." + +How many times had he heard that particular line! It sickened him, +hearing it now from Jenny; he had expected something better of her. He +pushed her from him. By accident his fist raked her face. She fell +back blood trickling from her mouth. In her eyes he saw shock and a +vague sense of pain; but both were overridden by adoration. She was +like a whipped puppy, ready to lick his hand. + +"I'll tell you, George," she whispered. "But don't leave me." She +pulled herself to her feet and stood beside him, reaching for his +hand. "We make it in Hollywood, in the Directorate Building, the part +that used to be a sound stage." + +"Thanks, Jenny." He picked up one of the car seats and walked back to +the sedan. She stood motionless watching him. He fitted the seat in +place and put the key in the lock. The starter ground away, but the +motor did not turn over. + +He glanced back at Jenny. She was smiling inscrutably, "You see, +George, you have to stay with me." + +He got out of the car and moved toward her. + +"I was afraid you were planning to desert me," she went on, "so I took +out the distributor cap while you were getting the firewood." + +He stood in front of her. Coldly he demanded, "Where did you put it, +Jenny?" + +She tilted her lips toward his. "Kiss and tell--maybe." + +"I haven't time for games. Where is it?" + +His fist shot out. Jenny sprawled on the ground at his feet. Again he +saw the pain and the adoration in her face. But that couldn't be +right. She would hate him by this time. + +He yanked her to her feet. Her lips were still bleeding and blood came +now from a wound in her cheek. Yet she managed to smile again. + +"I don't want to hurt you, Jenny," he told her. "But I have to have--" + +"I love you, George. I never thought I'd want to give myself to a man. +All the buying doesn't make any difference, does it? Not really. And I +never knew that before!" + +With an unconscious movement, she kicked her train aside and he saw +the distributor cap lying beneath it. He picked it up. She flung +herself at him screaming. He felt the hammer beat of her heart; her +fingers dug into his back like cat claws. Now it didn't matter. He had +the secret; he could go whenever he wanted to. Nonetheless he pushed +her away--tenderly, and with regret. To surrender like this was no +better than a capitulation to the compound. It was instinctively +important to make her understand that. He knew that much, but his +emotions were churned too close to fever pitch for him to reason out +what else that implied. + +He clipped her neatly on the jaw and put her unconscious body on the +ground by the fire. He left the map with her so she could find her way +out in the morning; he knew it was really a very short hike to a +highway, where she would be picked up by a passing car or truck. + + * * * * * + +He drove out the way he had come in--at least he tried to remember. +Four times he took a wrong turn and had to backtrack. It was, +therefore, dawn before he reached the outskirts of Hollywood. In any +other city he would not have been conspicuous--simply a man on his way +to work; only women slept late. However, Hollywood was off-limits to +every male. The city was not only the seat of the Directorate, but the +manufacturing center for the cosmetics industry. And since that gave +women her charm, it was a business no man worked at. + +George had to have a disguise. He stopped on a residential street, +where the people were still likely to be in their beds. He read names +on mail boxes until he found a house where an unmarried woman lived. +He had no way of knowing if she had a husband on approval with her, +but the box was marked "Miss." With any luck he might have got what he +wanted without disturbing her, but the woman was a light sleeper and +she caught him as he was putting on the dress. He was sorry he had to +slug her, but she gave him no resistance. A spark of hope, a spark of +long-forgotten youth glowed in her eyes; before she slid into +unconsciousness. + +Wearing the stolen dress, which fit him like a tent, and an enormous +hat to hide his face, George parked his sedan near the Directorate +and entered the building when it opened at eight. In room after room +automatons demonstrated how to dress correctly; robot faces displayed +the uses of cosmetics. There were displays of kitchen gadgets, +appliances, and other heavy machinery for the home; recorded lectures +on stock management and market control. Here women came from every +part of the country for advice, help and guidance. Here the Top +Directors met to plan business policy, to govern the nation, and to +supervise the production of the compound. For only the Top +Directors--less than a dozen women--actually knew the formula. Like +their stockholdings, the secret was hereditary, passed from mother to +daughter. + +George searched every floor of the building, but found nothing except +exhibit rooms. Time passed, and still he did not find what he had come +for. More and more women crowded in to see the exhibits. Several times +he found new-comers examining him oddly; he found he had to avoid the +crowds. + +Eventually he went down steps into the basement, though a door marked +"Keep Out." The door was neither locked nor guarded, but there was a +remote chance it might lead to the production center for the compound. +In the basement George found a mechanical operation underway; at first +he took it for another cosmetic exhibit. Conveyor belts delivered +barrels of flavoring syrup, alcohol and a widely advertised liquid +vitamin compound. Machines sliced open the containers, dumping the +contents into huge vats, from which pipes emptied the mixture into +passing rows of bottles. + +The bottles: suddenly George recognized them and the truth dawned on +him, sickeningly. Here was the manufacturing center for the +compound--but it might just as well have been a barn in Connecticut or +a store window in Manhattan. No man was enslaved by the compound, for +the compound did not exist. He was imprisoned by his own sense of +guilt, his own fear of being different. George remembered his own fear +and guilt: he knew how much a man could be driven to make himself +conform to what he thought other men were like. + +His revenge was as foolish as the sham he wanted to destroy. He should +have reasoned that out long ago; he should have realized it was +impossible to have immunity to an addictive drug. But, no, George +believed what he saw on the television programs. He was victimized as +much as any man had ever been. + +He turned blindly toward the stairway, and from the shadows in the +hall the Morals Squad closed in around him. With a final gesture of +defiance, he ripped off the stolen dress and the absurd hat, and stood +waiting for the blast from their guns. An old woman, wearing the +shoulder insignia of a Top Director, pushed through the squad and +faced him, a revolver in her hand. She was neither angry nor +disturbed. Her voice, when she spoke, was filled with pity. Pity! That +was the final indignity. + +"Now you know the truth," she said. "A few men always have to try it; +and we usually let them see this room and find out for themselves +before--before we close the case." + +Tensely he demanded, "Just how much longer do you think--" + +"We can get away with this? As long as men are human beings. It's +easier to make yourself believe a lie if you think everyone else +believes it, than to believe a truth you've found out on your own. All +of us want more than anything else to be like other people. Women have +created a world for you with television programs; you grow up +observing nothing else; you make yourself fit into the pattern. Only a +few independent-minded characters have the courage to accept their own +immunity; most of them end up here, trying to do something noble for +the rest of mankind. But you have one satisfaction, for what it's +worth: you've been true to yourself." + +_True to yourself._ George found a strange comfort in the words, and +his fear was gone. He squared his shoulders and faced the mouth of her +gun. _True to yourself_: that was something worth dying for. + +He saw a flicker of emotion in the old woman's eyes. Admiration? He +couldn't be sure. For at the moment a shot rang out from the end of +the corridor; and the Top Director fell back, nursing a hand suddenly +bright with blood. + +"Let him go." It was Jenny's voice. She was sheltered by a partly open +door at the foot of the stairway. + +"Don't be a fool," the old woman replied. "He's seen too much." + +"It doesn't matter. Who would believe him?" + +"You're upset. You don't realize--" + +"He's mine and I want him." + +"The Directorate will give you a refund of the purchase price." + +"You didn't understand me. I don't want one of your pretty automatons; +anybody can buy them for a few shares of stock. I want a man--a real +man; I want to belong to him." + +"He belongs to you; you bought him." + +"And that's what's wrong. We really belong to each other." + +The old woman glanced at George and he saw the same flicker of feeling +in her eyes. And tears, tears of regret. Why? "We have you +outnumbered," the old woman said quietly to Jenny. + +"I don't care. I have a gun; I'll use it as long as I'm able." + +The Morals Squad raised their weapons. The Director shook her head +imperiously and they snapped to attention again. "If you take him from +us," she called out to Jenny, "you'll be outlawed. We'll hunt you +down, if we can." + +"I want him," Jenny persisted. "I don't care about the rest of it." + +The old woman nodded to George. He couldn't believe that she meant it. +The Director was on her home ground, in her headquarters building, +backed by an armed squad of stone-faced Amazons. She had no reason to +let him go. + +She walked beside him as he moved down the hall. When they were +twenty feet from the guard, she closed her thin hand on his arm; her +eyes swam with tears and she whispered, "There truly is a love potion. +Not this nonsense we bottle here, but something real and very +worthwhile. You and this girl have found it. I know that, from the way +she talks. She doesn't say anything about ownership, and that's as it +should be. As it has to be, for any of us to be happy. Hold tight to +that all the rest of your life. Don't ever believe in words; don't +fall for any more love stories; believe what you feel deep +inside--what you know yourself to be true. + +"You men who learn how to break away are our only hope, too. Most of +us don't see that yet. I do; I know what it used to be like. Someday +there may be enough men with the stamina to take back the place of +dominance that we stole from them. We thought we wanted it; for +decades before we had been screaming about women's rights." Her thin +lips twisted in a sneer and she spat her disgust. "Finally we took +what we wanted, and it turned to ashes in our hands. We made our men +playthings; we made them slaves. And after that they weren't men any +more. But what we stole isn't the sort of thing you can hand back on a +silver platter; you men have to get enough courage to take it away +from us." + +Her grip tightened on his arm. "There's a fire door at the end of the +hall; if you push the emergency button, you'll close it. That will +give you a five or ten minute start. I can't help you any more...." + +They were abreast of Jenny. She seized Jenny's hand and thrust it into +his. "Beat it, kids; there's a bachelor camp on the north ridge. You +can make it. + +"And from here on in, what he says goes," the old woman added. "Don't +forget that." + +"She won't," George answered, supremely self-assured. + +He took Jenny's arm and, turning abruptly, they made their break for +freedom. The Director managed to remain standing in the middle of the +corridor, making a dangerous target of herself so that none of the +Morals Squad could risk a shot at the fugitives. As the fire door +clanged shut George looked back. He saw the old woman's lips moving in +silent prayer. + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Love Story, by Irving E. Cox, Jr. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE STORY *** + +***** This file should be named 32078.txt or 32078.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/7/32078/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/32078.zip b/32078.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..524aa1d --- /dev/null +++ b/32078.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..62d0ebf --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #32078 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32078) |
